Help Baby Bats Take Flight!

Thank you so much for all your generous donations that enable us to continue to rescue, rehabilitate and release back into the wild the flying-foxes that come into care. We could not do it without your help.

Unfortunately, this year’s pup season has coincided with a mass starvation event occurring down the east coast of Australia leaving the already vulnerable Grey Headed Flying Foxes at risk. Starving mothers are struggling to produce milk for the pups and many pups coming into care are underweight. On top of this, we have had a few very hot days this summer – above 40⁰C (104⁰F) which has resulted in heat stress events occurring in some of the flying fox camps. Heat stress occurs when the body produces more heat than it can dissipate and can result in death. The adult females will often die leaving behind the young pup.

Caring for orphan pups is a consuming job, with pups needing up to 5 milk feeds a day, daily cleaning of the wing membrane and some time in the sun. In addition, as carer, you need to spend time with the pup, one on one, developing the bond with them as their surrogate mother. Pups will be in care until they are 12-13 weeks old and depending on how many pups you have in care at the one time, it is a full-time job. Once they are 12 weeks old, the pups will be placed into bat creche at Kukundi, where they start the dehumanising process and learn appropriate bat behaviour and how to interact with other pups.

I have been privileged to care for 4 flying fox pups this season and below are their stories:

Neila

Neila was found on the ground on mum who was deceased, unknown cause of death. She was a premmie pup, not registering on our growth charts for weight or forearm. She weighed 53g (1.9oz) and as she was only taking in the smallest of volumes of milk, she was being fed 6-7 times a day. Neila did not have much fur on her face or belly for a very long time – she looked a little like an alien and hence why she was named Nelia (alien spelt backwards). The lack of fur growth may have been due to nutritional deficiencies in utero. Neila has a delightful laid-back personality and entered creche last weekend, on her way to being released.

Lucky

Lucky came into care at 3 weeks old. She was found on her mum (deceased) on an extremely busy road in my local area – hence her name Lucky, as she was lucky not to have been run over by a car. Mum was electrocuted on powerlines and had come off the lines onto the road below. As a result, Lucky had multiple abrasions, swellings and bruising from the contact with the bitumen road. It took a long while to get her stabilised and every time we looked at her new abrasions and injuries appeared. She also is a relaxed pup who has gone into creche along with Neila.

Callie

Callie came into care when she was 3 days old. Mum was electrocuted and still on the powerlines. This type of rescues requires assistance from the power company who send out a truck to retrieve the pup from the lines. We can often be waiting for hours for the power truck to arrive. Callie had burns to her left trouser membrane (the membrane that runs down her leg) and lower left wing membrane. At this stage Callie is a thriving and healthy 10 weeks old pup and will soon join the others in bat creche.

Andy

Andy is also a very lucky pup. We had some wild weather in November which had brought down a large tree limb in a local suburb. Our State Emergency Services had been called in to cut up the tree limb and remove it from the road. As they were doing this one the SES people noticed this little bat pup – lucky for him. There was no sign of mum. Andy was 4 weeks old when he came into care. On examination we found all his injuries were all on his left side (bruises and abrasions), with his forearm being very swollen. Trip to the Vet and x-ray showed that he had a broken left radius. The concern with a break like that is whether the bone will continue to grow and will it affect his flight ability. Today Andy is a flier, in fact he was one of the first pups in care to fly. He will be heading off to creche buddies this weekend.

We feel privileged that you selected our project to support out of so many wonderful causes. By adding your donation, you've become a part of our community of supporters, and we're thrilled to have you on the team.

Please consider telling your friends and family about our project. Sharing with your community about why you chose to support our organization will help us increase the work we can do to support the flying-foxes.

Thank you so much for all your generous donations that enable us to continue to rescue, rehabilitate and release flying-foxes back into the wild. We could not do it without your help.

Weather wise it has been a relatively mild winter in New South Wales, but we are expecting a very hot and dry summer. The possible impact of this weather on our flying fox colonies can be heat stress. Heat stress events in flying-foxes can occur when the temperature exceeds and stays above 38°C, and particularly when temperatures exceed 42°C or when there is a combination of high heat and high humidity. Behaviour of flying foxes with heat stress include panting, wing fanning and clumping or clustering together. If the temperature exceeds 42⁰C their thermoregulatory mechanisms cannot cope, and death is often the result.

This winter we have still had the usual number of adults and sub-adults that have needed to be rescued – caught in fruit netting, collisions with cars or buildings, or poor first flight of this year’s juveniles. As our facility at Kukundi had been closed for the winter break we needed to transport the last of these flying foxes up north giving these adult bats a chance to successfully release in a warmer climate during winter. On Saturday, 6 August, Susan Smith, and Jodi Lewis (2 of our amazing Sydney Wildlife Rescue volunteers and bat carers) set out on their bat road trip with 30 adult Grey Headed Flying Foxes that were loaded into 4 large cages in the back of their SUV.

When transporting flying foxes long distance, the inside of the SUV must be as cold as possible and as quiet as possible. Susan and Jodi were rugged up in jumpers, earmuffs, and gloves to keep themselves warm while providing inside temperature of under 18⁰C (64⁰F). It was a cold and quiet trip up north where the bats were successfully soft released near an established flying fox camp.

A quick review on reproduction in flying-foxes.

As we are about to head into pup season, I thought a quick review on flying fox reproduction might be interesting. Males are sexually mature by 30 months and females by age two. Mating occurs between March and May and starts with the males marking their territory in a tree with secretions from scent glands on their shoulder. The male will actively defend their territory from other males, which means it can be very noisy in the camp site over this period. The females usually become pregnant between March and April which is Autumn in Australia. There is a 6-month gestation period, with mums giving birth in spring, mainly October to November. They give birth in the treetops of the camp to a single pup – twins are sometimes born but often only one will survive. As soon as the pup is born it begins to suckle from its mother. There is a nipple (teat) beneath each wing pit that the pup will latch onto. The pups have milk teeth that curve backwards so that they can keep a firm hold onto the nipple. At night when the mother flies out to search for food the pup clings to her, firmly latched onto the nipple, with its claws in her fur. Newborns are born well furred except for their stomach which is usually tucked up against the mother under her wing. The pup is not able to maintain its own body temperature until it is a older, so stays close to its mother. Pups are born with their eyes open and weigh around 70-80grams (2.4-2.8 ounces). As we are coming into pup season I have added to this report some cute pup pictures.

We feel privileged that you selected our project to support out of so many wonderful causes. By adding your donation, you've become a part of our community of supporters, and we're thrilled to have you on the team.

Please consider telling your friends and family about our project. Sharing with your community about why you chose to support our organization will help us increase the work we can do to support the flying-foxes.